THREATENING telecommunication companies with a government takeover due to poor services sends a negative signal to investors already doing and are planning to do business in the country, Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan warned yesterday after President Duterte threatened to expropriate telcos because of bad communication connectivity.
“Threatening telcos with expropriation after shutting down the largest media network while displaying sheer government incompetence and failure in managing COVID (coronavirus disease) response will only scare foreign and local investors from doing business in the Philippines and further hampers our economic recovery,” Pangilinan said.
Telecommunication giants PLDT/Smart and Globe Telecom took a beating during the President’s State of the Nation Address on Monday. Duterte gave the two firms until December to improve their services, or the government will take over their operations.
“You might not want what I intend to do with you. Kindly improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ (in) Bethlehem, better have that line cleared,” the President had said.
Senate president pro tempore Ralph Recto said while it is true that the country’s telcos are poorly performing, taking over them is not the solution.
“Promoting competition is the way forward,” Recto said.
Sen. Richard Gordon said the President’s threat was uncalled for. “The President must be presidential at all times. Do certain things the proper way. You don’t threaten. I don’t see that,” Gordon said.
In a radio interview, Senate President Vicente Sotto III urged the telcos to “shape up” and take the President’s threat “seriously.”
“I will advise the telcos to shape up. They should seriously take up what the President said,” Sotto said in an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson shared Sotto’s thoughts, noting that threats previously made by the President to different erring corporations did well in the past as the corporations complied with what was right.
Lacson cited the cases of the Philippine Airlines, which settled its P6 billion arrears to the government; the government takeover of Mile Long property, and the Boracay rehabilitation, among others.
“Without undergoing lengthy and expensive court litigation, and I would say, (making threats) has therefore served its purpose, rightly or wrongly,” Lacson said.
He said telcos must take Duterte’s pronouncement as a wakeup call to improve their services, which he lamented pales in comparison to other countries in terms of speed and efficiency.
Even Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon agreed with the President: “Yes, I agree with the President. We must improve the services of these two telcos. Even in the Senate sometimes we have a teleconference talking about telcos and we could not hear each other, because the signals are very poor. I think there is no dispute that we need an improvement insofar as telco is concerned.”
But while Lacson did not object to the threats, the senator called attention to President’s failure to give a similar warning to local officials who extort money from telcos in exchange for permits and licenses, and for protection from delays in the construction of such facilities, especially in areas where there are communist rebels.
